UPDATE: The band is not breaking up. John Dwyer has shared this statement:

DEAR OH SEES FANS,
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT. THE BAND IS NOT BREAKING UP. THIS IS JUST A WELL DESERVED BREAK AND A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD. A NEW THEE OH SEES LP WILL BE OUT EARLY 2014 AND WE WILL SEE WHERE THE LIVE SHOW GOES FROM THERE… UNTIL THEN, BE WELL
JPD

For years now, San Francisco garage-psych warriors Thee Oh Sees have been one of the few sure things on the indie touring circuit, a sweaty and electric and fun-as-hell show no matter where they’ve been. They’ve also served as benevolent elders in the ridiculously fertile San Francisco psych-rock scene and released more music than anyone could reasonably hope to keep track of. But here’s hoping you got a chance to see them during that run, since, for now, it’s over.

As Consequence Of Sound points out, the band played a show two nights ago at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. During the set, frontman John Dwyer said, “This will be the last Oh Sees show for a while, so dig in.” Talking to SF Weekly, the band’s tour manager Annie Southworth confirms that the band is taking an indefinite hiatus.

The reason: Dwyer is moving from San Francisco to Los Angeles, while keyboardist Brigid Dawson is departing for Santa Cruz. Of Dwyer, Southworth says “He’s been living in the Mission on 17th and Valencia, and watching that neighborhood as well as the city transform has been enough for him. He’s over it.”

Southworth points out that this isn’t a breakup, exactly, though any future for the band is deeply uncertain: “Will be a little hard to continue with all the different locales so who know what is going to happen… Cross fingers, we all are [sure] that it’s not completely over.” But still, this sucks.